Ghana Stock Exchange starts year on the low
Market activities on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) continued at its low pace throughout the week, enduring the bearish trend that has characterized the market from the beginning of the year.
SG-SSB, GOIL and SIC racked up the list of laggards with drops of between 4 percent and 7 percent in their prices. At the end of trading last Friday, UT Financial Services also shed some 3.13 percent shares to close at GHp31.
Liquidity had been the major bane of the Accra Bourse after it opened the week on Monday with a year-to-date return of -0.07 percent.
The only price change for the session was a loss by the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), which shed GH¢ 0.01 to close at GH¢ 1.09. Traded volumes closed the session at 107,600 shares unlike previously where it ran into millions.
On Tuesday January 13, the GSE All-Share Index, the main measure of performance of the Exchange, slipped again in trading by 1.6 points to close lower at 10,422.60 points from 10,424.20 points. The year-to-date change also stood at -0.09 percent.
Similarly Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) lost GH¢ 0.04 to close at GH¢ 3.10. Market capitalization again went down to GH¢17,889.34 from GH¢17,890.37 million on Monday.
The trend continued to Wednesday and Thursday with market capitalization reducing further to GH¢17,955.57 on Thursday. Traded volumes plunged to a mere 18,200 shares from 3,575,300 on Wednesday when GCB sold 3,507,000.
The present situation establishes a worrying effect as many investors may be forced to invest their monies elsewhere but not in listed equities for now.
In addition, it could have some effect on earnings of stockbrokerage firms since no major player in the stock business seems to be insulated from the meltdown of the share declines.
The setback confirms some analysts’ assertion that the market may be responding to the impact of the global financial turmoil.
More plunges are expected as trading commences this week though volumes may go up as compared to the past two weeks.
Meanwhile African stock markets appear to be bouncing back after a sluggish trading during the beginning of the year.
Johannesburg Stock Exchange regained momentum last Friday gaining 2.31 percent while the Nigerian Stock Exchange also saw some improvement.
In Asian, stock markets also rebounded on Friday from the previous day’s rout, with Tokyo’s index gaining nearly 3 percent, as the US bailed out Bank of America again and a weaker yen lifted exporters like Toyota.
Major European markets also opened higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 2.1 percent while Germany’s DAX added 2.6 percent with France’s CAC-40 gaining 2.7 percent.
US stock futures also advanced, pointing to a stronger open on Wall Street.
Source: Daily Guide